A display of novelty lighters sits on the counter at a Skokie, Ill. Marathon gas station, which sells lighters that have lights on them along with other toy-like designs, July 17, 2007. (Chicago Tribune Photo By David Trotman-Wilkins)

by Jesse A. Hamilton

With his housing bill securely registered as law, Sen. Chris Dodd has fallen on the natural next step for a personal legislative push: the fight against novelty lighters.

He and Sens. Ron Wyden, (D-Ore.), and Susan Collins, (R-Maine), introduced legislation yesterday that would ban lighters that look like household objects or toys.

Dodd said in a statement: "While they may appear to be harmless toys, novelty lighters can be incredibly dangerous to young children. I am proud to join Senators Wyden and Collins in introducing this legislation to ensure that no family is forced to face a tragedy because an innocent child confused a lighter for a toy."

Under the bill, the Consumer Product Safety Commission would treat the products as "banned hazardous substances." Such a ban is supported by child-safety and fire-prevention groups.

Comments

Wow, hitting the hard issues, while walking out and refusing to have a debate or vote on energy. Is it any wonder that Congress has a lower approval rating than Bush? Keep making this country into a nanny state, it's a wonderful thing. But it's all about the kids maaaaan!!!

Post a comment

(Anonymous comments will not be posted. Comments aren't posted immediately. They're screened for relevance to the topic, obscenity, spam and over-the-top personal attacks. We can't always get them up as soon as we'd like so please be patient. Thanks for visiting The Swamp.)